A Fullmetal Wedding
by XstrawberrypockyX
Summary: When Edward Elric returns to Amestris from his journey to the west, Winry finds herself overwhelmed as she's thrown suddenly into the unfamiliar world of wedding planning. Then in the midst of family and wedding drama, a war breaks out and Winry and the Elrics discover they have a lot more to worry about than centerpieces. EdxWinry, AlxMay, etc.
1. Homecoming

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

A Fullmetal Wedding

A Fanfiction by Strawberrypocky

A/N: I just want to take a moment to say, I promise that this isn't going to be as fluffy and cliché as it may seem. Whether or not you believe me is up to you. R&R.

Thank you.

Chapter 01: Homecoming

Twenty-year-old Winry Rockbell lay silently on the bed in her room with the door closed, staring up at the wood-tiled ceiling as she attempted to count the millions of dust particles that floated above her in the shaft of sunlight that was pouring through her window. After a few minutes of this, she gave up and rolled over onto her side, her long blond hair falling over her sapphire blue eyes and brand new eyebrow ring she had crafted from iron for fun. The sounds of Granny repairing something or other – or possibly filling a late order a customer had called for – floated up to her from the tiny workroom one floor below.

Winry sighed and squeezed her eyes shut, Edward Elric's face came rushing to her mind as she did so. She wondered if he and his younger brother, Alphonse, were alright, though she could never stop herself from worrying more about Ed than Al – he was the one with an automail leg after all. In the two years since the Elric brothers had departed from Amestris, Winry had had to leave home to tend to Ed's automail more than a few times, and both he and Al sent her letters on a monthly basis. Last she had heard, Al was traveling with May Chang and Xiao Mei as he had been for a little over a year now, but he had neglected to mention where they were traveling _to _in his last letter. Ed's letter had yet to arrive, though.

It was really strange. Winry had managed to calculate a while back, by using the post dates on the letters that Ed almost always sent his letters to her on the first of each month and they usually got to her within a week or two weeks, at most, which meant that he sent them via the express mail, but this month – nothing. She was beginning to wonder if he had been hurt or if he could have possibly…She couldn't bring herself to finish the thought.

"_I'll give you half my life, so you give me half of yours_!"

Winry frowned as Ed's words to her at the train station drifted across her mind. She knew deep in her heart, despite how very corny that may sound, that he loved her. Sometimes, though, she couldn't help but worry that while he was alone in those strange countries, Ed might have…Found someone else. Someone prettier than her, a fellow alchemist, who wasn't stubborn and never cried because someone else wouldn't, someone who wouldn't force milk down his throat – even if it was for his own good. Someone he loved more than her?

"Winry!"

The sound of her Granny's approaching voice, growing ever nearer pulled her from her reverie and she sat bolt upright on her bedroom. "Yes, Granny?" she called as she listened to her grandmother's footsteps.

"Winry," Granny said, poking her head inside the doorway of Winry's bedroom. "I just wanted to bring this up to you. It's just arrived." She waved the envelope she was carrying through the air, smiling.

"Oh!" Winry said, smiling brightly as she jumped up from the bed and started to cross the room. "Is that what I think it is?"

"A letter for you from Edward Elric, yes," Granny told her, handing her the letter. "It's only just arrived, like I said. The mail must be running slow this month."

"Yes, it must be," Winry said as she went over to the little desk in the corner of the room. She grabbed a letter opener from a cup on her desk and sliced the envelope open, carefully avoiding harming the letter inside. She looked over her shoulder at her grandmother, smiling, and added, "Thank you for bringing it to me."

"You're quite welcome, child," Granny said. "I must be getting back to work now, so I'll be downstairs if you need me." She turned to leave.

"Alright," Winry said somewhat absentmindedly as her grandmother left and she pulled the letter from its envelope. She began to read:

_Dear Winry,_

_Hey, how's it going? Still having to run back and forth to your customers in Rush Valley? How about that one guy who had his automail leg fall off in the shower because he went to a back-alley mechanic? Bet you fixed him up good._

_Oh, well. Better him than me. _

_Anyway, I don't know if Al might have mentioned this to you in his last letter, but our journey to study alchemy, Alkahestry, and whatever else might be out there is just about over. He and May Chang are traveling through Xing on their way back to Amestris. I'll probably be home before they are, though. You know how they like to take their time._

_I hope you're excited to hear that I'll be coming home soon because you can expect me back on the fifteenth of May. Can't wait to hear from you until then._

_ Later,_

_ Ed_

Winry stared at the letter for a moment, her mouth hanging open slightly in confusion. She reread the last lines of the letter several times and said, "The fifteenth of May, but isn't that –?"

"Hey, Winry."

Winry spun around silently, not even daring to believe that she recognized the voice that had spoken to her. She gasped audibly when she saw Edward Elric standing in the doorway of her bedroom with his long, golden blond hair pulled away from his warm, smiling golden eyes in a long ponytail.

"So," Ed said, crossing the room to where she stood, beaming as he went. "You miss me?"

Winry stared at him in shocked, disbelief uncertain of what to say or how to respond. She opened her mouth to speak several times, but she all managed to accomplish with this was to cause Ed burst out laughing. "Ed," she managed to say at long last in a somewhat breathless voice. "When did you –?"

"Finally," Ed said, smiling down at her, "she speaks. I'm not sure I like seeing you act all speechless – it's not natural. It was funny, though." He reached out and brushed her hair out of her eyes as he spoke, raising an eyebrow at her new piercing, but saying nothing about it otherwise. "Seriously, though," he said, his smile fading slightly, "you _did_ miss me, right?"

"Of course I did," Winry said, looking away from him, so he wouldn't see her blushing. She moved away from him carefully and went to go sit down on her. She looked up at him and asked, "When, exactly, did you get back to Amestris and where is Al – is he really back in Xing?"

Ed sighed disappointedly, but smiled nonetheless as he crossed the room to Winry's desk and sat down in the chair there. "Yep," he said. "It's just like the letter says. He and May are in Xing right now with Xiao Mei. They should be arriving here in about a month or two, maybe three, and I arrived in Central last Wednesday –"

"You've been in Central for a whole week and you didn't even tell me?" Winry said her voice now laced with anger and hurt. "I would have to come see you if I had known."

"Well, I wanted to surprise you," Ed said quickly, frowning when he saw the look on her face. "And I was really busy, too, Winry –"

"Too busy for a phone call?" Winry said, glaring at him.

"Oh, c'mon, Winry," Ed said, pleading now. "I just got back – you can't be mad at me already. If I tell you what I was doing in Central, will you promise not to be mad at me, please?"

"That depends," Winry told him, her expression now apathetic.

"Alright," Ed sighed, smiling, knowing that this was the best response he could hope to get from her. "Well, Mustang was in Central last week, so he agreed to meet with me about reconstructing Laboratory Five, so that the bio-alchemists can try to restore the human chimeras to their original forms. They won't be able to do it, though, without mine and Al's research on alchemy and Alkahestry, so Al and I have agreed to sell our research to the government, you know, to help the cause."

"And it took you a whole week to do all that?" Winry asked him skeptically.

"That wasn't all I was doing while I was there, you know," Ed said, laughing at her expression. "I had other things to do other than that."

"Like what?" Winry asked somewhat expectantly.

"Well," Ed said, looking away from her as his face began to burn beet red, "most of the time I was there, I was waiting for this to be finished." He reached inside his pocket and pulled out a small, white cardboard box, which he instantly began to fiddle with it in his embarrassment. "I had it commissioned right before I went to speak with Mustang. It's for you, Winry." He tossed the box across the room to her and looked away quickly.

Winry caught the box and held it in her hands silently, blushing deeply. She wasn't exactly sure what she was to do with it. She knew that she should open it, but she just didn't know when exactly. This was the first time Ed had given her a gift in years, and even the last time he had given her something, it had only been to keep her from being angry with him. He had never given her something that really felt like it had had any real meaning behind it. She looked up at him in disbelief and said, "What is it?"

"Open it and find out," Ed said without looking at her, his voice laced with annoyance and amusement. It was becoming quite evident that he just wanted the whole situation to be done and over with.

Winry nodded and pulled the lid off the small white box silently. Inside of it, nestled in a wad of multicolored tissue paper, was a small black maple box with a glass top that was stained deeply red. The inside of the black box was lined with white velvet and in the very center of the box was a small, round band of silver that wrapped intricately around three round, glistening diamonds with the one in the middle being the largest of the three. Winry's mouth fell open in disbelief as her eyes fell on the ring. "Oh, my –!" she gasped pulling the tiny black box out and opening it to get a better look at the ring.

"Do you like it?" Ed said, smiling at her, his face still red, but not nearly so much as before. "I had everything made special – even the box. It cost a fortune, but it was worth it, and judging by the look on your face, I guess that means I have pretty good taste." He stood up and walked over to her, beaming now.

"Ed," Winry said, looking up at him. "What, exactly, is this for?"

"What is it for – Winry, do you really have to ask?" Ed said, laughing as he sat down next to her on the bed. When Winry continued to stare at him in confused disbelief, he took her hand in his, causing her to blush deeply and said, "Do you remember what I said when I left Amestris – at the train station?"

"That's what this is for?" Winry said as realization dawned on her.

"Well, yeah," Ed said. "I mean, what else would it be for?" He continued before she had a chance to answer. "I just figured that now that I'm back it was time to make it – er – official." His face turned bright red once again as he said this.

"But, Ed," Winry said, "are you sure it's not too much? I mean, I don't even want to think about what you must have had to pay for this – "

"Winry," Ed said, irritation creeping into his voice, "do you like the ring?"

"Well," Winry said, "yes but –"

"But nothing!" Ed said, not even trying to smile at this point. "If you like it, then just wear it and don't worry about anything else, okay?"

Winry stared at him hesitantly for a moment before she pulled the ring out of the box and slid it onto her left ring finger silently. She knew from the look on his face and the tone of his voice that she had hurt him unintentionally by not accepting his gift right away, so she had to fix it. She reached out and waved her fingers in his face playfully, so that the three diamonds on the ring caught the sunlight streaming through her window and glimmered brightly. "I really do like it," she said, smiling as she kept her gaze fixated on the ring as Ed turned to look at her. "It's so pretty. I just can't believe you would actually buy me something like this. I never would have expected it of you." She looked up at him, meeting his gaze with an apologetic look in her eyes and knowing that he wouldn't ask her to say it out loud. He understood her.

Ed smiled at her knowingly and said, "Yeah, well don't worry about it so much. It's no big deal, honestly. If I want to buy someone something nice, then I will, and that's all there is to it. There is something I'd like you to take care of, though."

"And what's that?" Winry asked him inquisitively.

"Our wedding, of course," Ed told her, smiling, looking away from her as he spoke and scratching his head thoughtfully. "I mean, I know I've got a great sense of style and all, but when we get married, I want it to be all about you, so I want it to be nice for you and by that, I mean –"

"You want _me _to plan our wedding?" Winry asked, bringing about a momentary halt to Ed's embarrassed rambling, her voice filled with surprised intrigue.

"Well, who else is going to do it?" Ed said, looking at her. He looked away from her quickly and went on, "I don't really feel like doing it and, I mean, you're going to be the bride – I'm just trying to make you happy! What the hell is wrong with that?!" He glared at her, his face red with embarrassment, breathing heavily.

Winry burst out laughing, causing Ed to fall silent. "Nothing," she said, reaching out and lacing her fingers through his. "Nothing is wrong with that." She looked down at their intertwined hands, her face red and smiling as her gaze fell on the ring Ed had bought for her. The first _really _meaningful gift he had ever given her. "Thank you, Ed. Just thank you."

Ed smiled at her silently and squeezed her hand gently as he looked down at their fingers, blush coloring his cheeks once again.


	2. Winry's Deed

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

A/N: It's been a while since I've done any serious writing, so my style will be evolving throughout the story.

I apologize for this.

Chapter 02: Winry's Deed

That night Winry sat smiling next to Ed in the small, scrubbed wood table in her grandmother's kitchen as he dangled a chicken bone over Den the dog's head, while Granny stood at the counter divvying up the pie Winry had baked for them. Ed laughed as Den's barking filled the tiny kitchen and the dog stood on her hind legs, begging with her paws. After a few minutes of this, Winry nudged Ed with her elbow and sighed, "Be nice and just give it to her already, Ed."

"Yeah, alright," Ed said, throwing the chicken bone into the corner of the room for Den to gnaw on.

"It's good to hear that you kids are finally planning on getting married," Granny said as she handed their plates to them. "I've been wondering when you might. I just wish your parents and Al were here to celebrate your _official_ engagement."

Winry's smile faded slightly at the mention of her and Ed's dead parents. It wasn't a subject she liked to think about often; although she did wish her mother and father were there to take part in the celebration of her engagement to Ed. She knew they would be happy for her.

Catching the look on Winry's face, Ed smiled and said in between bites of pie, "Al has known about my plans for a while now – almost a year, and in his last letter he mentioned that he was bringing back a wedding present for us from someone special." He grinned at Winry.

"Oh, well, how lovely for you," Granny said, smiling as she sat down across them. "Have you decided yet what you two are going to do after the wedding?"

"After?" Winry said, frowning. "What is there to do after the wedding?"

Ed frowned at her, a look of surprise taking over his features. "Seriously, Winry, you haven't put any thought into this stuff?" he asked her.

"Well, I've been a little too busy for thinking," Winry said, looking at him, "what with having to run back and forth to Rush Valley, and hurrying off to take care of you in the middle of whoknowswhere whenever you get into a fight with someone you can't handle." She pulled her wrench out of her pocket and hit him playfully over the head with it.

"Yes but there's still plenty for you to think about it, child," Granny told her. "Like where you're going to live after the two of you are married –"

"Wait a minute," Winry said quickly, turning to look at her. "You mean we're going to have to move?"

"Well, you certainly aren't going to be able to stay here once you're married," Granny said, getting to her feet. "There'd be too many people, for one thing, and it probably would be a bit unnerving. In any case, I'm going to bed now – I trust you two will take care of the dishes?"

"Yeah, we'll get them," Ed said, waving to Granny as she left the kitchen with Den at her heels. "Night, Granny!"

Once Granny was gone out of earshot, Ed turned to Winry and frowned. She looked hurt and slightly panicked by her grandmother's words. "Hey," he said, reaching out and taking her hand in his own. "You okay – I mean, you aren't really surprised by any this, are you?"

Winry's eyes fell on their hands and she looked up at him, blushing. "Well, I mean," she said, "I just thought I would live here my whole life. It's where I was raised, after all, and no one ever said anything about me moving out. I'm not even sure I want to move." In order to distract herself, she stood up and began to gather the dirty dishes that were on the table.

"It's sort of the way things go, Win," Ed told her in a comforting, voice as he watched her set all the dishes in the sink. "People get married and move out of their parents' homes every day. Besides, you've lived in other places before – like when you were apprenticing in Rush Valley."

"That's different, though," Winry said, pulling open a drawer and grabbing a dish sponge and some soap. "When I stayed in Rush Valley, it was only temporary and Granny couldn't wait for me to come back home, and I know it's the way things go, Ed. I'm not dense. I just sort of feel like…" She sighed and her voice trailed off as she turned the water on and started to let it run, so it would get hot faster. "Sort of like Granny doesn't even want me here anymore."

"Wait," Ed said, frowning, sounding both confused and concerned. "You really feel that way?"

"Yes, Edward!" Winry snapped, glaring at him from over her shoulder as she began to wash dishes. "I really feel that way! How am I supposed to feel – she just said I couldn't stay here after we're married even if I wanted to!"

Ed ran his hands through his hair in frustration and groaned. "Winry, it's not like that at all!" he said, glaring at her. "And you shouldn't talk like that – the old woman would be upset if she heard you. Just listen to me, okay?" He stood up and walked over to where she was. He grabbed her by the waist and spun her around to face him. As he stared down at her, taking in her hurt and confused expression, his gaze softened and he reached out, blushing slightly, and cupped her face in his hand. "We cannot _possibly _stay here after we're married."

Winry glared at him. "And just why – " she began, but was quickly cut off.

Ed groaned again as he reached around her and turned off the water. He grabbed Winry by the hand and pulled her from the kitchen, causing her to become more confused than ever.

"Ed!" Winry said as she allowed him to lead her through the living room and up the stairs to her room. "Just what the heck are you doing – I have to wash the dishes, remember?"

"I'll get them later," Ed promised as he led down the hall to her room. He pulled her inside the room. Then he turned and closed and locked the door behind them.

"Why did you do you that, Ed?" Winry said as he turned to face her once again.

"You know, you aren't usually this clueless," Ed said, walking over to where she was standing just in front of her bed. The room was dark with the only light coming from the moon and stars outside. He smiled at her and added playfully, "But I guess even you have your ditzy moments."

Winry glared at him and opened her mouth to retort but before she could, Ed had leaned down and kissed her, placing his hands on her waist and shoulders. Winry was so taken aback by this that it took her moment to kiss him back. It wasn't the first time they had kissed before, but Ed had never kissed her so swiftly or so suddenly. She felt her face burning bright red, but with passion rather than with embarrassment and she knew that if she looked, his would be as well.

Ed ran his hands up and down Winry's body, traveling the curves and contours his hands had memorized in previous make-out sessions. He smiled into the kiss as he felt Winry dragging her fingers through his hair, picking apart his ponytail. His hair was always the first thing she went for. He pushed her down onto the bed directly behind them as she pulled the tie loose and his hair fell down his back to his midriff. He climbed on top of Winry, straddling her, and began to kiss her neck.

"Wait a minute!" Winry cried out a minute later, pushing him away from her. "We can't do this now, Ed!"

"Well, what's the problem?" Ed asked her, grinning, his face red and his breathing heavy. "You're having fun, aren't you?" He leaned down and began to kiss her collarbone playfully.

"Ed!" Winry said, pushing him off her and moving as far away from him on the little bed as she could. "Be serious – my grandmother is right down the hall!"

She sat silently for a moment, her face burning brighter than ever, as realization dawned on her.

"Yep," Ed said, laughing as he reached out and took his hair tie back from her. "That's exactly the problem. Told you we couldn't stay here after we're married." He pulled his hair back and tied it up into a ponytail as he turned to leave.

"Where are you going?" Winry asked him, not wanting to admit her enormous blunder.

"To do the dishes," Ed told her, unlocking the door and pulling it open. "You can go to sleep if you want. I should be back in just a few minutes – just try not to have too many dirty dreams about me while I'm gone, okay?"

Winry pulled her wrench out and threw it at him as he left, but he was gone before it could reach him and bounced off the closed door instead. She groaned loudly as she listened to Ed's roaring laughter disappear down the hall and hid her face beneath her pillow. She couldn't believe she had been such an airhead – of course they couldn't stay here after they were married. It would just be too embarrassing. That's what Granny had meant by "unnerving".

Going through _this _was too embarrassing – she knew that Ed was smarter than her. He was a genius when it came to alchemy, but she wasn't usually this clueless just like he had said. She knew exactly why she was like this, though, and she smiled as she acknowledged the thought. It was because of him.

Winry was just so happy that Ed was home and so taken aback by the expensive present he had given her that she had completely forgotten herself. This is what loving him did to her. It had happened before; too, when they were younger, but back then, Ed had been too busy infuriating her for it to last very long. She pulled her head out from under enough the pillow and rolled over onto her back. She knew there was no way she could be mad at him for this, though. It was entirely her own fault for getting so distracted. She'd have to be careful not to let it happen again – she already knew he was never going to let her live this down.

Winry smiled to herself and sighed. It was just one more thing she was going to have to deal with just like she was going to have to deal with the fact that they were going to be moving probably right after they were married. There was a chance they might even move before they were married. Where in the world were they going to live, though?

Resembool was their home. They had both grown up there, even though Ed and Al had burned down their childhood home a long time ago after their mother's death and after the incident that had nearly killed Al and left Ed permanently disfigured. They were adults now, though, and Winry knew that Ed would probably much rather leave those unpleasant memories behind them just as he had done as a child when he had become a traveling State Alchemist. Perhaps they would move to Rush Valley, so Winry could reopen her shop there rather than having to run and back forth?

Or maybe they go to Central where Ed could overlook the reconstruction of Laboratory Five and see to it that the military wasn't misusing the research he and Al had agreed to sell them?

Winry knew Ed didn't put too much trust in the government after what had occurred with Father and the homunculi. She didn't blame him for that, either, so moving to somewhere like Central really made the most sense to her. Even if she didn't really want to.

"Oh, hey." The sound of Ed's voice pulled Winry from her reverie and she looked up to see him, standing in her doorway, frowning. "You're still up? I really expected you to be asleep by now."

"I didn't really expect you to be back by now," Winry countered, smiling at him.

"I said I'd only take a few minutes, didn't I?" Ed said, closing the door behind him. "You okay – you seemed kind of unhappy just now."

Winry frowned as she sat up and hugged her knees to her chest. She sighed sadly and said, "I was just thinking about where we might move to." She looked up at Ed. "I'm really sorry for making such a big fuss earlier, but I just –"

"Don't worry about it," Ed said as he crossed the room to the bed. He sat behind her and sat with his legs on either side of her body. He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into him, so her head was against his chest; his expression was one of sadness. "I get it. This place is your home. It's only natural you wouldn't want to leave, but it's just something we've all got to deal with." He reached out and began to run his hands through her long, blond hair, his cheeks glowing faintly red as he did so. "You don't need to explain yourself. Not to me."

"Yeah, I know," Winry said, resting her cheek against his chest. Her gaze fell on his face and she asked, "So where are we going to move anyway – Central or somewhere like that?"

"Central?" Ed asked, looking at her as though she were crazy. "You're kidding, right? After everything that went down there, if I never see that place again, it'll be too soon."

"Well, yeah, but how are you going to find out about stuff like Laboratory Five and stuff like that?" Winry asked him, frowning.

"Oh, well, you know," Ed said, smiling, "I was thinking that if they had any news to share they'd find some way to get in touch with me – like maybe a phone call or something. You're really out of it today, aren't you?" He smiled down at her. "Does that mean you're really happy to see me?"

Winry looked away from him, blushing deeply and turned her gaze to the window. The night air coming through the window was cool and sweet. It smelled of green grass, sheep wool, and summer sunshine soon to come. She breathed the scent in silently.

"Hey, Winry," Ed said a moment later when she still had not responded. "I don't want you to think that you have to be afraid or embarrassed to tell me anything. I want you to be able to say anything you want to me, no matter what. I kind of feel like you owe me that much, especially since we're going to be getting married soon, okay?"

Winry turned to him, smiling, and said, "Then you can't be afraid or embarrassed to tell me anything, either. It's only fair, after all."

Ed glared at her with his eyes narrowed and said, "Whoever said I was?"

Winry turned away from him, laughing. "No one," she said. Then she looked back at him. "Will you tell me we're moving then – or where you want to move? You must have some ideas."

Ed smiled mischievously at her and said, "That is a surprise, but don't worry. You'll get to see it soon."

"How soon?" Winry asked him.

"Soon, I promise," Ed said, laughing. "You're so impatient."

"Well, it only takes about a year, I think, to plan a wedding," Winry said, looking thoughtful. "So we have to find somewhere to live before then and if you've already got something in mind, then it'd be nice if I had a say in it."

"You'll have lots of say, don't worry," Ed assured her. "You'll have so much say in everything, you'll get sick of it. I wouldn't make a decision as big as this without asking for your input first. Give me some credit, Win." He looked down at her, grinning. "And, anyway, how do _you_ know how long it takes to plan a wedding – been thinking about this for a while now, have you?"

"I guess you could say that," Winry said, looking away from him, blushing. "But that's not how I know." Her expression changed to one of sadness. "See, before my parents were married, my mom kept a scrapbook about how she planned their wedding. Granny gave it to me to have when I was still a child and it took my mother exactly one year to plan her wedding, according to her book."

The two of them were silent for a long time after she said this, and Winry hoped she had not made Ed worried or upset for her. Their wedding was supposed to be a happy occasion. Not something for her to be sad about.

"You know, Winry," Ed said, smiling as a thought occurred to him, "if you want we can make our wedding just like your parents."

"That's a nice idea, Ed," Winry said, smiling at his thoughtfulness, "but I'm not sure we have the same taste as my parents. I probably will use the checklist she made, though."

"A checklist?" Ed said, looking at her, feeling somewhat confused. "Like a wedding checklist?"

"Yeah, it's a list that tells you what you're supposed to do for the wedding and when," Winry explained to him. "Oh, and I need to go get some wedding magazines tomorrow."

"Oh, so you're finally done looking at those crazy gearhead magazines, then?" Ed asked, smirking at her.

"Are you finally done looking at crazy alchemy magazines?" Winry asked him, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Yeah, yeah," Ed said, smiling at her. "Maybe I'll go with you then and get something of my own to read, but if you don't get to sleep soon, I'll lock you in your room, so you can't go anywhere."

"Yeah, alright," Winry said as she reached out and pulled the blanket at the foot of her bed over the both of them. She lay down on her side and buried her face in Ed's chest, smiling. "Just promise me," she said, "you won't have any bad dreams tonight."

Ed reached out silently, smiling as his face burned red, and placed his hand on the small of her back. "You should worry about your own dreams," he told her.

Winry lay bed in silently the next morning with her eyes closed and her hair messy. She reached out with her hand silently, expecting to feel Ed's hair between her fingers, but instead all she felt was her bed. She groaned quietly and turned over onto her side as she reached out and pulled the pillow towards her head. As she lay there, she began to register the smell of waffles floating up to her from the kitchen and the warmth that was pouring through her window, making her feel almost as though she were having a hot flash beneath the heavy blanket.

Winry sat up and looked around her room silently. Ed had brought his suitcase up while she had been asleep and his clothes from before were overflowing onto the floor, but otherwise he was nowhere to be seen. Winry scratched her head as she climbed out of bed, yawning hugely, and wandered over to her little closet and pulled out a fresh change of clothes. She dressed quickly and dragged her brush through her hair, and then went downstairs to help prepare for breakfast, fiddling with her new engagement ring the entire time. She had to make sure she still had it to keep herself from being afraid of losing it.

When Winry got to the kitchen, she paused in the doorway and stared in shock at Ed who was covered in flour and batter, cooking breakfast by himself while Granny sat at the table sipping coffee.

"Oh, hey, Winry," Ed said, grinning as he spotted her. "You have good dreams?" He winked at her playfully as he turned his attention back to the waffle iron.

"Hey, Ed," Winry said as she took her seat at the table. "When did you learn to cook?"

"Winry," Ed told her, "you don't travel as much as I do without learning to how cook."

"Yes," Granny said, setting her now empty coffee cup on the table, "and he chopped the firewood, too."

"Wow, Ed," Winry said, smiling, "you sure have grown up a lot."

"Nah, not really," Ed said, laughing as he set a plate of waffles on the table. "I just wanted to do something nice."

"You couldn't sleep again, could you?" Winry asked him as he sat down at the table. "Did you have nightmares again?"

Ed's smile faded as she said this. He looked at her and said, "It's no big deal, Win. Honestly, I'm more than capable handling a couple of bad dreams." He smiled at her reassuringly.

"Alright," Winry said, sounding not at all convinced. "Thank you for making breakfast this morning." She helped herself to some waffles.

"Yes, Edward," Granny said, smiling at Ed, "you did a wonderful job this morning. Thank you."

Winry sighed as Ed began to assure how Granny how it was no trouble at all and how she should hurry up and try to the waffles, so she could taste how good they were. Back when Ed had been traveling in the west, doing research, he would always deny ever bad dreams of any sort. Winry knew that wasn't true, though, and every time he denied it, he was just trying to keep her from worrying about him. She guessed that the nightmares were mostly about his mother and his disastrous attempt to bring her back to life using alchemy as a child. She couldn't believe that after all this time, in the midst of such a joyous event, he was still having those horrible nightmares, but then how could anyone ever forget such horrible events?

"Hey, Winry," Ed said, pulling Winry from her reverie, "you okay? You haven't touched your food."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Winry lied, looking up at him and feigning a smile. She began to eat her waffles with her fork quickly.

"Great," Ed said as he stood up from the table and grabbed his now empty plate to put in the sink. "I'm going to run upstairs and get changed out of those clothes, so we can head out, alright?"

"Yeah, okay," Winry said, nodding. She shoved a bite of waffle in her mouth as she watched him set his plate in the sink and start to run the water.

"By the way," Ed said, looking at her over his shoulder, "I hope you don't mind, but I'd like for us to make a small detour on our way to the train station."

"Train station?" Granny asked, looking at the two of them. "You aren't off on your way already, are you, Ed? You just got here."

"Oh, no," Ed told her, waving his hand reassuringly. "It's not like that at all. Winry just wanted to head over to the next town over to get some bridal magazines, and I wanted to see if they had anything on alchemy, that's all."

"Oh, well, that sounds like fun," Granny said, smiling. "I would go with you, but unfortunately, I have an order to fill that needs to be done by the end of the day."

"Oh, well, would you like us to get something for you, Granny?" Winry offered, looking at her.

"Oh, no, child," Granny told her, smiling. "That's quite alright, but if you really are looking for ideas for your wedding, you should get out your mother's old wedding book. I gave that to you when you were a child, didn't I?"

"Yeah," Winry said somewhat sadly as she remembered the conservation about the book she had had with Ed the night before. "It's my room, I think."

"Alright then," Granny said, getting to her feet and leaving the room. "I'm going to get back to work then."

"Okay," Winry said, smiling after her.

"Hey, Win," Ed said, causing her to look at him, "I'm going to go change now. Do you mind getting the rest of the dishes?"

"No, it's no problem," Winry said, smiling at him.

"Great, thanks," Ed said, laughing as he started off up the stairs. "I'm going to find something nice to wear to make all the other girls on the train jealous of you!"

"Of course you'd do something like that," Winry said under her breath as she got up and gathered the rest of the dirty dishes. She carried them over to the sink, which was still full of warm, soapy water. "You'd enjoy seeing me upset over something like that, wouldn't you?"

Winry washed the rest of the dishes quickly and then paused as she heard the characteristic metallic thump that Ed's automail leg made as he came down the stairs. He was dressed in a white button-down shirt with a black jacket and pants. Inwardly, Winry heaved a sigh of relief to see that he had only been joking – she was worried enough without him going out of his way to make her jealous. "So," she said, smiling at him, "you ready to go?"

"Yep," Ed said, smiling back at her. "Let's get going."

"Okay," Winry said. She turned the water off, and they crossed through the living room – which was also a makeshift workroom – where Granny was working, grumbling quietly to herself, at the tiny work table in the corner.

"Have a nice time, you two!" Granny called to them as they left, looking up from her work.

"Bye, Granny," Winry said as Ed waved to her over his shoulder.

Winry walked down the front steps of her grandmother's house and paused. It was warm and sunny outside, and the air smelled of wool just as it had the night before. Wildflowers sprouted up along the path that led to the hill where Ed and Al's house had once stood, and Den lay across the path in a sunny patch of green grass, gnawing the chicken bone Ed had given her the night before.

"This place is great, isn't it?" Ed said, reaching out and grabbing her hand, a faint blush coloring his cheeks. "Wouldn't it be great if we could stay here forever?"

"Yeah, it would," Winry said as Ed began to lead her down the dirt path and away from her grandmother's house. "It's too bad we have to move, huh?"

"Well, maybe we won't move too far away," Ed said, smiling. "Anyway, try not to worry about it too much, okay?"

"How can I not worry about it?" Winry said, looking at him. "Moving away is a pretty big deal, Ed."

"Yeah, but we don't really have to worry about it," Ed said, "especially since we're probably only going to be moving a mile away."

"Wait," Winry said, her expression suddenly confused, pausing in the middle of the path. "What did you just say?"

Ed turned to her, smiling and said, "The reason it took me so long to get home from Central is because I was having some blueprints drawn up by an architect and doing some legal work to make sure my plans wouldn't fall through."

"What plans, Ed?" Winry asked, starting to sound both worried and frustrated. "I thought you said you wanted my input on this!"

"Hey, hey," Ed said, waving his hand to silence her. "Don't be so quick to jump to conclusions. You see those people down there?" He pointed down the path where there was a small group of people, some of whom looked like construction workers, hunched over a small table in the middle of a rather large, square field rimmed by trees.

"What about them?" Winry said, looking from the field to Ed and back again.

"Well, since I know you so well," Ed told her, smirking as a tone of arrogance crept into his voice, "I pretty much figured that you wouldn't want to live too far from the old woman, so I thought the best solution would be to see about maybe buying some land for us to build on here in Resembool. Pretty good idea if I do say so myself."

"Wait," Winry said. "Those people are there to talk to us about buying that land, so we can build our house there?"

"Well," Ed said, "I already took the money for the land out of my bank, but listen – nothing is final until you sign the deed for it and I handover the cash." He looked away from her and started walking down the path again with Winry following after him, looking more confused than ever. "See, I figured it would be better for you to have ownership of the land and the house or whatever that way you wouldn't be screwed out of a place to live if anything ever happened to me."

Winry paused in the path again silently. She reached out and grabbed Ed's hand, causing him to turn her, frowning and looking confused. "Ed," Winry said, looking up at him and smiling as warm tears stung the corners of her eyes. "How in the world did I ever end up with someone as perfect as you?" She threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly and her cheeks burning bright red. She buried her face in the base of his neck and whispered quietly, "I love you so much."

Ed smiled, his cheeks flooding with color, and wrapped his arms around her tightly, not caring who saw. "I love you, too, Win," he told her, gently kissing the top of her head. "I'm just glad you're happy."


End file.
